Linotype-machine.



PATBNTED AUG. 8, 1905.

0. SOUTHWELL. LINOTYPE MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25, 1904.

Invenfar Q? I raffl ANDREW. s. Baum co. Wormumosmmin; wunmam UNITED STATE?) PATENT OFFICE.

OMAR SOUTHWELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEWV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO MERGEN- THALER LINOTYPE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

LlNOTYPE-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 8, 1905.

To rtZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. OMAR SoUTHwELL, of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Linotype-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to expansible spacers or justifying devices consisting of two connected oppositely-tapered wedges, such as are used in the Rogers linotype-machine represented as to its general organization in Letters Patent of the United States No. 679,481 and as to the later improvements now in use in application, Serial No. 212,806, filed June 16, 1904:. I

The objects of the invention are to give the justifiers increased strength and durability, to prevent them from assuming improper positions during the assemblage of the line, and to relieve the cooperating parts of the machine from strain.

In this machine a series of endless inclined wires or guides are provided, one for each let ter represented in the keyboard and another for the spacers. From these wires or guides the circulating matrices and spacers are suspended and arranged to travel intermittingly in one direction, first from the points of storage along converging portions of the guides to the point of assemblage, thence along parallel portions of the-guides to the casting mechanism, thence upward along parallel portions of the guides to the rear end of the machine, whence they descend by gravity along diverging portions of the guides to the original points of storage. The pendent spacers were of such form that their lower ends were not positively. guided during their passage toward the points of assemblage and distribution, and when in action atthe casting-point the upper or stationary Wedge during the rise of the cooperating member to efiect justification was held down solely by its engagement with the wire or guide at the upper end. It is to overcome the difiiculties incident to these facts that the present invention is directed; and it consists, first, in forming the lower portion of the space-band so that it straddles and travels along the stationary guide or track, and, second, in adapting the upper or stationary member of the spacer to interlock near its lower. end with a stationary part of the machine, whereby it is held down in place and its upper end and the supporting-guide edge view of the spacer.

tlve view showing a spacer and a matrix in relieved from strain during the justifying action.

Figure 1 represents in side elevation a spacer constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the new part to which my invention relates. Fig. 2 is an Fig. 3 is a perspecoperative relations to other parts of the machine, which are indicated in dotted lines. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are cross-sections on the correspondingly-numbered lines of Fig. 1, but on a larger scale.

Except as hereinafter noted the machine may be of the ordinary or of any approved construction.

Referring to the drawings, B B represent the inclined endless wires, guides, or tracks from which the matrices O and spacers Z are suspended and on which they are arranged to travel, as described in the patent and application above referred to.

The lower ends of the matrices U are formed with vertical notches 0, whereby they are adapted to straddle a stationary guide or guard plate F, which serves to prevent them from turning or twisting during their travel in such manner as to pinch or bind on the .guides B, as fully described in the Rogers application, in which this guide is represented by the same letter.

O represents a stationary anvil or plate against which the composed line of matrices and spacers is supported at the rear edge when in the casting position before the mold. This plate is provided across its face with a shoulder 0 to engage corresponding shoulders in the rear edge of the matrices, and thus insure their alinement, as heretofore.

Each spacer consists of the upper and lower members and .2, overlapped and connected by a longitudinal dovetailed joint, their overlapping portions being tapered in opposite directions, so that the outer surfaces of the operative portions are parallel. The upper member is provided at the top with a hook .2 or equivalent means forsuspending it from the guide B. The lower member .2 has its lower end reduced in width edgewise, that it may be extended downward past the guiderail F, as heretofore. When the spacers are in the casting position, the lower members 2 are acted upon by the vertically moving pusher-plateT and are forced upward through the line past the upper and stationary member I which will admit of its straddling or embrae .2 until the portions in the line are increased in thickness sufliciently to effect the justification of the line to the predetermined limit, as usual.

-Heretofore the upper spacer members .2 were terminated above the guide F, so that engagement therewith was impossible, and they were so constructed that they had no engagement with the alining-rib 0 of the anvil. I now attach to or form upon the upper member at its lower end a downwardlyprojecting plate or finger .2", adapted to overlap the side face of the guide F, as shown in Fig. 3, so that this rail is embraced between the wedge member .2 on one side and the finger e on the other. In this manner the spacer is prevented from turning or twisting as it travels along the guide in such manner as to bind thereon, and it is also prevented from swinging laterally out of position as it approaches the assembling-point. In the rear edge of the upper member I now form a shoulder 2, located in such position that it will underlie the alining-rib 0, which consequently acts to hold the member .2 down against the upward thrust of the member a during the justifying action.

Heretofore there was no engagement between the alining-rib and the spacer, and consequently the upward thrust had a lifting effeet on the long slender portion and on the guide B, from which it was suspended. The effect was occasionally to bend or distort the part .2 and the guide and to cause a defective justifying action. These difficulties are wholly overcome by the present improvement. The essence of the invention in this connection lies in providing the upper pendent wedge near its lower end with a shoulder adapted to interlock with a shoulder on the frame, and thus relieve the long slender shank from the upward thrust against the suspending-wire to which it has heretofore been subjected.

The essential features are the construction of the lower end of the spacer in any form ing a guide along which it travels, so as to prevent it from turning or swinging out of position during its travel through the machine, and the adaptation of the non-sliding member to interlock with the alining-rib or equivalent fixed part, so that the upward thrust during justification will not be transmitted to the suspending-shank or to the guide on which it travels.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a linotype-machine, a guide-wire B and a bottom guide F, in combination with the two-part wedge spacer suspended from and arranged to travel on the guide-wire and embracing guide F below the casting-level, substantially as described and shown.-

2. In a linotype-machine, the traveling spacer comprising the pendent wedge with a shoulder at the lower end, and the second wedge carried thereby and arranged to slide thereon, in combination with the fixed rib engaging said shoulder, whereby the one wedge is held down against the upward thrust of the other.

3. The spacer for a linotype-machine, comprising the upper body portion with a suspending-hook .2 a finger .2 shoulder 2 and the lower wedge member 2', connected to the upper member bya sliding joint and reduced edgewise in width at the lower end, as described and shown.

4:. In combination with the fixed guide-rail F, the pendent traveling wedge extending downward on one side of the guide-rail, and the second wedge .2 carried by the first and extending down on the other side of the guiderail.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand, this 22d day of November, 1904, in the presence of two attesting witnesses.

OMAR SOUTHVVELL.

Witnesses: J. R. Romans,

JOHN S. PAULSEN. 

